Lilith didn't respond immediately, and that slight delay, that simple interval between waking and reacting, carried a weight far greater than any words could convey at that moment. Her eyes, still heavy from her condition, remained fixed on Vergil long enough for something to begin to form there, not just recognition, but an overlay… one image over another, as if two existences occupied the same space at the same time.
For an extremely brief—but absolutely perceptible—instant, she wasn't looking at Vergil.
She was looking at something else.
Something older.
Something that shouldn't be there anymore.
Her eyes narrowed slightly, as if trying to better focus on the vision that appeared before her, as if her mind were struggling to decide what was real and what was just a residual echo of memories that should never completely disappear. The presence she felt in him… wasn't just powerful. It was too familiar.
Lucifer.
The name wasn't spoken.
But it existed.
In that silence.
